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Do the Environment a Favor by Making Your Cleaning Routine Green

House cleaning is incredibly vital to our daily lives. It looks so gross when it’s dirty, and it’ll be so unhealthy for the people living in it. I mean, we don’t want malevolent microscopic creatures, bacteria, and virus infestation, do we?

So okay, cleaning is important, noted. However, some cleaning products can leave negative impacts to the environment. Some materials of cleaning products are made from petroleum, which are not a renewable source. And as humanity progresses rapidly while Earth stays the same, we don’t want that. To help our mother Earth, let’s make our cleaning routine greener.

DIY green cleaning

The first and most inevitable thing that you can do is make your own cleaning products to replace over the counter products you have right now. However, don’t just simply throw them in the trash or empty them on the sink, because they might end up in landfills or in your own water supply and eventually harm you. Recycle them in communities that hold toxic and electronics recycling days.

Oh, and don’t really bother with the ones with antibacterial properties. The FDA has found that antibacterial cleansers and soaps don’t work better than a regular soap and water. They also add to the risk of breeding bacteria that can survive chemical stuff. So going natural is the right way here.

Alright, so DIY products. For basics, vinegar and baking soda are important because those two can clean almost anything. You simply need to mix them in a little warm water and you’ve made yourself an ultimate natural all-purpose cleaner. But if you want to be specific, like window or wood cleaning, stick around for a bit.

For starters, let me give you the benefit of each of the following items. White vinegar and lemon juice disinfects, loosen dirt, and cleanse grease. Olive oil picks up dirt and polishes wood. Boric acid will disinfect, whiten, and deodorize, and lastly, baking soda acts like a scrub and boost the effect of acids.

Now, let’s go to the drains. It’s really annoying when you’ve got clogged drains, right? You can firstly prevent it by using a strainer. But if it’s already clogged, the first thing you want to do is use a plunger because it’s more effective than chemicals. But if you’ve tried your best and you don’t succeed, try combining half cup of baking soda and white vinegar, then cover the drain and let the foaming pressure do the magic.

I like having wooden things in my house, but some things can make them look so dull and unappealing. Combat this by applying a combination of olive oil and vinegar (sounds like a salad dressing? Totally. But this works super effectively). For wooden floor, dilute ¼ cup of vinegar in 1 gallon of hot water. For wooden furniture, mix 1 cup vinegar with 1 teaspoon olive oil.

Our windows give us the nicest spectacle to the outdoors, but rain, snow, and sun can leave their marks on them. In order to return them to the pristine state, add ¼ cup of vinegar or lemon juice to 2 or 3 cups of water. Wipe with a newspaper or old cotton rag. (Make your rags from old undies in this article).

Do you have brass, copper, chrome, or stainless steel at home? Want to polish them? Don’t think about the ammonia-based polishes. Give your shiny items with an equal mixture of salt, vinegar, and flour. Make a paste and rub it to the metal items with a soft cloth. You only need to cover the surface, let them dry out, and wipe of the dried paste afterwards.

Many times, bathroom doesn’t have a great ventilation, resulting in a lot of humidity. A perfect place for germs and bacteria to grow and multiply, ew. So if you want to clean your bathroom, use baking soda and vinegar as a toilet scrub. For tub and tile, pour boric acid on them and leave for 30 minutes then rinse. You can use borax if you want, but boric acid is safer.

If you’ve got a traditional fireplace and you’ve noticed some soot and smoke smudges around it, don’t worry. Get a cream of tartar and water and combine them into a paste. Rub the paste onto the stains, let dry, and scrub it off. If you care more about the chimney, toss a handful of salt into the fire occasionally. This will loosen the soot and let you clean a lot easier.

Get high-quality indoor air

It’s very important to get great indoor air quality because the air inside your house or a building can be more toxic than the air outside. How? It’s because there are toxic materials and substances and a lot of new buildings and houses are more covered than before. Therefore, it’s better to keep windows open as often as possible so that you can get fresh air and let the toxins flow out.

What kind of toxins you might ask? The NRDC tested 14 different air fresheners and discovered that there are 12 products with phthalates. Phthalates is a hormone-disrupting chemicals which you don’t want to have in your house. And so it’s a lot better to eliminate odors and poor air quality with natural approach.

Try to boil cinnamon, cloves, or other herbs that you prefer. If you’re the green thumb type, then great! Plants definitely filter interior air naturally. Any broad green leaf plant will do the work for you.

To keep things extra clean, give a good doormat at the front door and really brush off all that dirt or do a shoeless house method. This is because your shoes have been through a lot of things such as oil, animal waste, particulate pollution, pollen, and whatnot. Those two method are great to maintain a healthy indoor and it means that you’ll be sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming less.

Well, those are natural cleaning products that you can make by yourself, save money, easy, and environment-friendly. If you’ve done green cleaning method before we posted this article or you have a different way (like a natural dish soap, perhaps), tell us in the comment box below. Don’t forget to leave a like if you enjoyed reading this article, too. Have a fun green cleaning!